PLANET CHOCKO – art/music/movies/beyond

Tina Dico at the Highline Ballroom

February 3rd, 2011 by Mr. C

TINA DICO performed at the Highline Ballroom on 1/31/2011 with her folk-pop inspired bad self! She was accompanied by a full band this time around including the multi-talented, HELGI JONSSON playing the guitar, keyboards, & trombone. Helgi actually opened up for Miss Tina playing a few earthy tunes of his own including a cover by Roy Orbison, WILD HEARTS RUN OUT OF TIME. Helgi has a real distinct sharp & high voice that hit a few registers that i didn’t know existed for a dude! Getting back to the main event, Tina Dico is mega popular in her home country of Denmark & in europe in general and usually plays to sell out crowds in larger venues. It’s truly a tremendous treat when she performs in the states with her great stage presence, lyrical chops, beautiful haunting voice, long flowing blond hair, dazzling storytelling, & awesome melodies! It’s really a double edge sword because you know that she should be getting much more press than she gets here in NYC, but it’s also a sharper edge on the other side of the blade because we can see her play in a such a small venue at bargain basement prices, $10 or $15 day of show for such an honest & emotional performance! I get hooked everytime I listen to her older tunes like Home, Break of Day, In the Red, No time to sleep (Grey’s anatomy), Room with a View, & Count to 10! Tina’s lyrics mostly comprise of what she calls longing for something, whether it’s longing for romance, hear me outs, observations on urban life like in HEAD SHOP, cravings for that certain heartbeat in the city like her SACRE COEUR song which is ode to Paris! Tina delivered an emotional performance with a song dedicated to COPENHAGEN where she just recently moved back to with a sole mission of soul searching! Why do I like listening to Tina dico? I love her unique delivery & heartbeat in her songs, her powerful voice with clear, cut like a knife pronunciations, her storytelling which grabs your attention, her singing which really grips your heart because she bleeds like an emotional monkey when pitching her songs, & she’s got the look, to paraphrase ROXETTE! My favorite performances of the night include IN THE RED, COPENHAGEN, NO TIME TO SLEEP, LOVE ALL AROUND, an awesome soul inspired tune that Tina wrote for a movie called oldboys, & an old tune from her ZERO 7 days called HOME! It really brought down my home when she sang it! TD teetered from rockin’ out to the electric guitar back to the acoustic when a noticible humming noise was amplified when they crossed back over to the electric. At that point, it was all acoustic, baby! Miss Dico also belted out full force md melodies head on into the mic then faded into acappela mode without the mic which gave it a fresh, organic sound on a few tracks like In Love & Long Way Home. The sound was pretty wicked! I really wish this lyrical danish vixen would play in NYC more often because she’s really got soul, pizazz, & all that jazz! I definitely would recommend picking up Tina Dico’s new album called “Welcome Back Colour”. It’s a 2 CD hybrid album consisting of compilations of her most popular songs with a few new songs like “Welcome Back Colour” and “Copenhagen” amongst others. She describes this new album as a retrospective look in the mirror of herself with a leap of faith going forward for a new colourful beginning! Well, hell’s yeah! Check out the performance of “love all around” & “home” by Tina at the Highline ballroom! (above & below!)

Tina Dico’s Setlist
count to 10
in love (ode to NY)
get to know you
in the red
he doesn’t know
copenhagen
watching him go
room with a view
glow
friend in a bar
no time to sleep
sacre coeur
silence
long way home
love all around
home
heaven and hell

Helgi Jonsson Setlist
Aurura
blindfolded
ashes away
wild hearts run out of time (roy orbison)
digging up a tree